Fables of the Medium
by DaProgram01
Summary: When a teenager accidentally torrents a game, he and his friends decide to play it for his birthday. But when the game kick-starts the end of humanity, the six of them are forced out of the world they once called home and into a place that wasn't expecting them to ever show up. Rated T for language and violence.
1. Prologue

Download progress: 99%.

Time taken: 6 hours 17 minutes.

Time left: 6 minutes 17 seconds.

It was dark out. The warm grace of the sun had long since abandon the sky, and had been replaced with the calm of the starry night. It was the passing of time that reminded the world of its need for progress. Not in the sense of requirement, but rather unrelenting desire. Desire kept the world moving. Progress was the lifeblood of humanity, and it brought with it countless milestones which became the foundation of today. Though the foundations of yesterday couldn't be perfectly smooth; any pessimist would slate the yesterday as a rocky start. And with bloodied and bruised feet, humanity would march on.

The world had to keep moving, after all.

A young boy sits alone in his darkened room. The only promise of light came from the monitor from which he went about his regular business. When the world slept, it seemed as though the light from that flat, pale screen was the only light in the desolate void of the universe. He typed away at his keyboard, composing an article for an upcoming endeavour; a memo to him and his friends, to orchestrate a game they would all play together. It had been a timed honoured tradition in his circle for the birthday boy or girl in question to choose the activity they would each take part in, and with all years prior, when it was his turn it would always be a surprise.

This year, however, would be different. The boy typed away at his keyboard, writing up a good few paragraphs of text until he felt like checking the download. He moved his hand over to the mouse, which in turn moved the cursor on the screen to the ψTorrent icon at the bottom of the screen. A dark blue window popped up. It was littered with progress bars, all of which were faded with '100%' in the centre of each bar. Music, videos, games, near enough anything that can be downloaded was torrented using this service.

The most recent item was no exception. Skimming over the title, the boy read it aloud in his head. "SBURB Beta Client/Server" printed in a bold green text. It was a game that seemed mostly under the radar; hardly any advertisement for the game could be found and any website or magazine that reviewed the game gave it a bad rap. Nevertheless, most forums and blogs were raving about the game, though they were ones used by 'hipsters' and 'geeks'. He looked at the progress bar, still a few minutes left.

That wasn't what got him interested in the game, though. Remembering the message, he scrolled over to the Hermes internet browser, and loaded up the integrated BuddyBroadcast feature. He would have opened it up on the application itself but that would have closed the memo, and he had spent a good ten minutes on that already. The cursor drifted over to the most recent message from an anonymous informant. He had read it several times already, but he had to read it again just to see.

* * *

_-argentinePickpocket began conversing with insidiousCracksman-_

AP: Hello there, IC.  
AP: You may be confused as to my identity.  
AP: I'm sure those gray cells in your noggin are working furiously to recall any information on me.  
AP: But fret not, because we have never met, nor have we ever conversed.  
AP: Unfortunately, we may never get the chance.  
AP: You see, I am about to embark on a mission that will leave me in no position to commune with you for some time, if at all.  
AP: And trust me when I say I hope that will not come to pass...  
AP: ...  
AP: I see. I figured you wouldn't be able to reply.  
AP: Don't feel bad though, the difference in time between us is a bit...  
AP: Iffy.  
AP: I just wanted to lend you some information that may assist you in the future.  
AP: In roughly 6.17 seconds of you reading this message a torrent will open on your computer.  
AP: It is of the utmost importance that you let this torrent run.  
AP: Do not worry, it will not cause any harm to your computer.  
AP: I just hope you prepare enough for what comes after...  
AP: I must deeply apologize, friend. I cannot give you any more information on this game, other than this:  
AP: This game will mean the difference between life and death. It will take your world by storm, and ensure that only the chosen will survive.

* * *

Just as the message had predicted, a torrent opened up on ψTorrent. Had the messages stopped there, he would have ignored the alleged trolling of this anonymous tipster. But it hadn't stopped there. He scrolled down to read the rest of the message

* * *

AP: Oh, and Josh?  
AP: I know it's a bit premature, but...  
AP: Happy Birthday!  
AP: 73DhQ1X0.  
AP: I hope you put this to good use.

-_argentinePickpocket__ ceased conversing with insidiousCracksman-_

* * *

Josh didn't really know what to think. This complete stranger knew that, not only his name and that would it be his birthday soon, but they also knew when the torrent would start for a game. And they gave some random gibberish too. There were a lot of things he didn't believe in, but a voice in his head told him this was the right thing to do. He and his friends would play this game together tomorrow, and it would bring about a terrible war as well as the complete destruction of humanity by a meteor storm.

...now where the hell did _that_ thought come from? It just sneaked up on him like some kind of meticulous and rather sadistic ninja, bent on making him flip the fuck out. Maybe he was just tired. Deprivation of sleep would surely be a hindrance on his birthday escapades in the morning. Time for bed.

A jingle played on his computer, and the ψTorrent window opened itself up again. The SBURB Beta had finished downloading, as indicated by the flashing orange banner. Josh moved the cursor over to the green house symbol and double clicked.

After a few moments another window opened up, showing the messy contents of Josh's download folder. The torrent application had linked him to his downloads rather than opening the program since there were two separate ones downloaded at the same time. He scrolled over to them, and after some deliberation, double-clicked the client application.

Yet another window opened, this time it was the game itself.

_SBURB version 0.0.2_

_ © SKAIANET SYSTEMS INCORPORATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED._

_ SBURB client is running._

_ Awaiting host connection..._

That made sense. This was a multiplayer game, after all. Maybe the host application would link all the clients together into one big session, so he would have to delegate someone as the host. Preferably the person with better internet speed. But that could wait for tomorrow.

After posting his opening statement for the BuddyBroadcast memo, Josh closed down all the windows and went to shut down his computer, but stopped when he saw the time.

00:00, 06/17.

He grinned slightly, and proceeded to shut off his computer.

"Happy birthday..."

* * *

_-insidiousCracksman began a memo at 23:59-_

IC: we are about to embark on a grand venture...  
IC: one that will shake the very foundation of our friendship, and tests the bonds we share.  
IC: my friends,  
IC: we are going to...  
IC: play some shitty game i found on the internet!  
IC: :P  
IC: okay so all of us are doing what i want, right?  
IC: well i managed to track down and nab a torrent for the beta of a game for us to play together.  
IC: i've done some research and there are a ton of online leaks about this game.  
IC: the game is supposed to let us edit each other's houses and mess around with the environment and stuff.  
IC: i figured that the game might be a bit shit but we could probably have some laughs with it.  
IC: i'll start the game tomorrow when i wake up and i'll send the rest of you the game.  
IC: i gotta get some sleep though so i'll talk to you guys tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 1 - Sharp Objects

*beep* *beep* *beep*

*SLAM*

A young boy stirred from his silent, but hardly peaceful slumber. He lifted his head from his pillow and waited for his vision to clear. His hand was planted firmly on his alarm clock, with cracks spread across the screen. He rose from his bed, finding his glasses on his nightstand. A thin strand of light shone through the sides of his blackout blinds, illuminating his room in a dim glow. Bright enough to see everything but dim enough to conceal someone who was trying to hide. Just how he liked it.

He jumped out of bed and landed deftly on the floor with hardly a sound, but was thrown off by a sharp pain in the back of his head. "_Fuck..._Another headache?" He steadied himself against his bed. Pangs shot through his head, making the back of his eyes ache and his back convulse. "Aspirin," he murmured as he stumbled over to his computer desk. Grabbing the bottle, he opened it up and downed two pills in an instant.

His computer sat silent in the darkness of his room. He hated seeing it like this. It needed to be alive and active, leeching as much data from the web as possible. He reached behind it and found the switch. Within a few moments it sprang to life with a few whirrs. The monitor lit up the room even more. A few moments later the desktop displayed, and his web browser Hermes opened automatically. It seemed someone had messaged him on BuddyBroadcast already.

* * *

_-perpetualHarvest began conversing with insidiousCracksman-_

PH: Howdy, birthday boy!  
IC: howdy  
PH: Josh, you have a headache again dont you?  
IC: what gave you that idea  
PH: Your lack of punctuation.  
PH: Also you never start a conversation with any kind of greeting.  
IC: i was being ironic  
PH: Of course you were, Mr. Grumpy :P  
PH: Anyway happy birthday!  
IC: thanks  
IC: i havent gone to get the mail yet so i dont know if your present has arrived yet  
PH: That's alright, take your time. I know it's already there.  
IC: how  
PH: CN told me  
IC: oh god dont tell me you actually believe her  
IC: how in the hell can anyone, let alone some farm girl from the boonies, buy into that philosophical bullcrap?  
IC: its just baseless theories pulled from fuck-knows where!  
PH: Yeah I don't believe that.  
PH: She did help me plan that harvest that one time.  
PH: Remember? I sent you that picture of the field when it was fully grown.  
IC: okay yeah, I remember that.  
IC: but superwheat aside, she cant possibly be right all the time.  
PH: Bluh, you're too grumpy in the mornings! :(  
PH: Go get some coffee and let's play this darn game already!  
IC: okay i'll go do that.  
IC: talk to you in a bit.

_-perpetualHarvest ceased conversing with insidiousCracksman-_

* * *

Josh swivelled his chair around and stood up. Coffee was an excellent idea. It was a driving force in his life and was the perfect supplement for the 6 hours of sleep he usually got. He checked the internal clock on his computer. 6:05.

He managed to choke back a gasp. _"No!" _he screamed internally, _"Damn it, I took too long!"_ He ran for the door and flung it open. There was a brief flash of blue followed by three thudding sounds. Looking back into the room, he saw what it was; three nails were stuck in the wall on the far side of the room. He wiped his hand on his cheek and looked at it. The tips of his fingers were covered in a red liquid. "Fucker made me bleed..." he said under his breath, and continued into the corridor.

Ducking down, Josh looked to his left and right in an attempt to spot the assailant. At one end, near the stairs, he saw the faintest blue blur dart around the corner. He took pursuit, stopping just at the top of the stairs. He felt something nearly graze the tip of his nose as another nail flew past him and stuck into the wall. The blue attacker ducked out from his sight. He leaped onto the banister and slid down, landing himself in the living room.

Josh surveyed the area. The room had no notable deviations. The beige couch sat in the middle facing a large TV. Lined up against the walls were several units considered standard for most houses: bookshelves, cabinets, etc, all hand crafted. The cabinets themselves had several handmade figurines and sculptures all made from wood. Mounted on some of the walls were several pictures. One photo depicted Josh in his infancy being held by a middle-aged man wearing blue overalls.

A painting hung to the left of the TV in the corner of the room. It was of a fantasy setting, at least in Josh's opinion, and it depicted a stretching land of green grass and towering beanstalks of various sizes, with a humongous beanstalk stretching above the horizon. The whole setting was heavy-set with what looked like mist for some reason. Josh could only guess this was supposed to be based on that old fairy tale where the kid trades a cow for some beans that grow into a huge plant with a castle at the top, which is totally possible. Then the kid climbs the plant and brutally murders the owner of the castle in his sleep and steals all his stuff. The name of the story escapes him, but the whole thing seemed pretty asinine anyway. Or at least that's how he remembered it.

Josh's attention was torn away from the painting by something in the corner of his eye. He turned to see a dark blue balloon floating in the air. In a mere instant the balloon vanished and reappeared on the wall next to, a nail pinning it in at the base. He looked for the source of the shot, and saw the blue figure dart into the kitchen. He ran in, nearly crashing into the counter, and faced the attacker.

A man clad in blue overalls was standing there, tying the end of a balloon. A brown leather belt was weaved through the loops around his generous circumference, and several tools hung from the belt including a slightly rusted hammer, a small saw and a battery operated nail gun. He threw the newly tied balloon up into the air and whipped out the nail gun, planting a nail into the neck of the balloon and sending it screeching into the wall behind Josh. His Dad took an offensive stance, ready to strife.

Josh also took an offensive stance, readying himself for what would surely be the most intense birthday strife he has ever had. But something was wrong; when he clasped at the air his weapon wouldn't materialize. A light went off in his head when he realised he left his room completely defenceless.

His mind reeled, quickly surveying the area for a substitute. Several knife handles jutted out from a wooden block next to the sink and a broom was propped up in the corner, but he had neither bladekind nor broomkind. His attention was drawn back to his Dad, who was reloading his nail gun. The thought ran across his mind that he could just use his fists, but for some reason he felt he couldn't without the fistkind abstratus.

Which was a pretty stupid rule, but one he had to abide by. This would be a fight that Josh couldn't win.

His Dad made the first move. He threw up several other balloons and shot at the bases of them. Josh avoided them as they screeched through the air and landed in the wall. Josh responded with an attempted abscond, but was suddenly dazed by a loud popping sound that came from one of the balloons, having exploded violently by a well placed nail. Dad reached into his pocket and took out a small rectangular box, about the size of his hand and tied with a blue ribbon, and threw it at his son. Josh deftly leaped forward into the air and acceded the box. He landed his foot squarely on the old man's stomach, stunning him. With a short window to escape Josh turned to the door and ran for it, absconding from both the strife and the kitchen.

He quickly made his way back to his bedroom and slammed the door closed. In the darkness of his room he located his bookcase; hand crafted of course, and shifted it to block the door. It didn't really make much difference since his Dad never entered his room, but he just wanted to feel some kind of security when his father gets into one of his crazy moods.

Remembering the small box his Dad threw at him, he held it up to take a closer look at it. The ribbon was tied around the lid itself rather than the box, making it easier to open. He took off the lid and looked inside. It contained two handcrafted chopsticks, with ラーメン (the Japanese kanji for ramen) carved into the side. "_Score!_" he yelled in his head, grinning widely. This was, by far, the coolest present his Dad had ever made for him. So awesome.

A sharp tone broke the silence as his computer grabbed his attention. BuddyBroadcast was alerting him to something. He sat down and opened it up; it was his friends chatting on the memo.

* * *

-_Birthday Escapades memo-  
-active members: perpetualHarvest, victoriousEremite, aimlessRebuttal-_

PH: Cool, sounds fun! Maybe y'all will be able to fix up my barnhouse :D  
AR: We may be able to, yes.  
AR: In fact I look forward to the challenge of digitally renovating a rustic abode despite a complete lack of architectural experience.  
AR: Assuming that is what the game is for.  
VE: yeah josh didnt really tell us much did he  
VE: ive looked around but i cant find anything about a game where you edit houses except sims and minecraft  
AR: Whatever it is, I hope he tells us soon. I need to leave for work in a few minutes, and I was hoping to at least download the game before leaving.

-_celestialNavigator logged on-  
-celestialNavigator began responding to Birthday Escapades memo-_

CN: hi everyone!  
VE: hey  
AR: Sup.  
PH: Howdy!  
CN: so what's Josh got in store for us?  
CN: something exciting and fun for us all to play?  
CN: possibly an obscure immersive simulator said to allow the manipulation of environments, even over long distances?

_-insidiousCracksman began responding to Birthday Escapades memo-_

IC: oh come on cn, dont act like you dont know.  
CN: hehe :P  
CN: happy birthday josh!  
VE: hey man happy birthday  
AR: He lives!  
AR: Thankfully you have made yet another uninterrupted trip around the sun, and have survived to attempt the process once again.  
AR: I would wish you luck on such an occasion, but unfortunately I'm a little busy making my own attempt at the very same thing.  
AR: But still, jolly good show old sport!  
IC: yeah yeah, alright limey.  
IC: i forgot you dont care about birthdays or whatever.  
IC: and thanks cn and ve, glad to know someone appreciates the meaning of a birthday.  
IC: now then is everyone ready to play?  
PH: Hold your horses there, pally. You forgot the most important thing.  
IC: :o ?  
PH: The game.  
IC: what about it?  
PH: God dang it Josh, you had one job!  
PH: You organise something for the lot of us to do, then we all do it!  
IC: but i did, hence the 'is everyone ready to play' thing.  
IC: you know, the thing i said? like eight lines up?  
PH: No, I mean we don't know what the game is!  
PH: You told us we were to play a game together, then you withhold the name of the damn game as well as how we're gonna get the game!  
IC: ...oh.  
VE: i saw this coming a mile off  
VE: dude never tells us anything important  
VE: hell until we started doing this thing about 10 years ago he didnt even tell me when his birthday was  
AR: 10 years ago would imply we were 7 numbnuts.  
AR: If I recall correctly, this is only the sixth time we have done this, with each of us having a turn aside from Josh.  
IC: dude i get it.  
IC: ill upload the files to the chat and you can download them yourselves.  
IC: theres a server file and a client file so im guessing we'll need to download both.  
AR: Awesome. Starting the download now, gonna let it run while I'm at work.  
CN: so what's the chain?  
IC: chain?  
CN: yeah! we need to establish a set chain in order to make sure we all play, dont we?  
IC: we do?  
CN: if only one server can connect to a single client at a time, we need to set up a chain for us all to play.  
CN: did...did nobody mention that?  
IC: see its this kind of bullshit i talk about all the time.  
IC: where in the hell do you get this information?  
CN: as i said before i cant say!  
IC: why the hell not? we're all friends here! you can trust us!  
CN: its not that simple, there are serious ramifications to this information!  
AR: ENOUGH!  
AR: Please, please just upload the file. You can continue bickering to your hearts' content later, but right now I need the damn files.  
IC: fine.

-_insidiousCracksman uploaded (2) files to Birthday Escapades memo-_

IC: there.  
AR: Thank you. Now, as for the chain...  
AR: Josh, since this is your day why don't you decide?  
IC: fine.  
IC: i will connect first with ph as my host.  
IC: she can connect with ve.  
AR: I should go last since I will most likely take longer to get home.  
AR: Also I guess I should give up on any chance of digitally renovating PH's farmhouse, huh?  
PH: Sorry, partner.  
AR: Nah its fine. Any house is cool with me, even FA's.  
IC: fine, fa will be ve's host, and you can host her.  
IC: then cn can go last with me as her host and her as your host.  
IC: ...  
IC: what, nothing to say on that?  
CN: sorry i was just checking something.  
CN: what was the order?  
AR: In terms of 'client - host'  
AR: IC - PH - VE - FA - AR - CN - IC  
CN: yup, thats the order.  
IC: /sigh  
VE: dude just let it slide  
PH: CN is probably just confirming what she thought it would be.  
PH: Right CN?  
CN: sure lets go with that.  
CN: gotta sign off, see you guys later when the game is in full swing!

-_celestialNavigator ceased responding to Birthday Escapades memo-_

* * *

Josh rubbed his temples. His friend seemed to give him harsher headaches than his nightly 6 hour sleep margin. CN never seemed to be open to saying anything, but is constantly asking questions. And then, when anyone gives her a straight answer she acts like she already knew it. It drove him bat shit up the fucking belfry, but the rest of his friends didn't seem to mind.

* * *

IC: how can anyone put up with that vague bullshit all the time? god she is so infuriating.  
PH: Only to you, partner. We all like her.  
PH: some more than others :P  
VE: oh shut it  
AR: Haha, 'Oh, CN senpai!'  
VE: seriously, stop  
VE: for the love of god  
AR: Kidding, bro. We cool.  
AR: Anyway I gotta bounce too. Need to haul my arse if I'm gonna make the train on time.  
AR: Catch you later!  
PH: See ya!

-_aimlessRebuttal ceased responding to Birthday Escapades memo-_

PH: Alright partner, y'all ready to start up this game?  
IC: hell the fuck yes.  
VE: you guys gonna start right away  
IC: yeah, why?  
VE: sorry but ive got some stuff to take care of right now  
VE: dont worry i should be back soon  
IC: no problem dude, see you later.

-_victoriousEremite ceased responding to Birthday Escapades memo-_

* * *

Josh opened up his Downloads folder and opened up the client application. The same text as before opened up, overlapping the other open windows. The last line was soon replaced with 'Host Connection established', and moments later the window itself closed. The screen went dark, and flashed back to life with a flurry of bright colours and patterns underlying a spirograph that was spinning and convulsing slightly and a progress bar. There was some strange text underneath the bar, but Josh paid it no mind. Too many flashing lights to focus heavily on anything.

The progress bar reached the end and the whole application went dark. It seemed as though it might be working, but it was kind of hard to tell since apparently his end had no active capabilities on the game, whatever the game was supposed to do. Presumably his friend and host had control of something, and it was just a matter of time until it came to light.

A bright flash lit up his room for just a moment, catching Josh's attention. Something just happened outside and he has no idea what, but that could wait.

There was a deeply unsettling feeling in his gut, like a sense of foreboding going unnoticed until it was perhaps too late to act. A menagerie of gypsy witches hurling their crystal orbs down in anger at the sight of a vision unheeded. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day.


	3. Addendum

Sup users!

So I finally got around to creating a new fanfiction, this time based on my favourite web comic: Homestuck! The story is about six characters I have created, playing through their own session of Sburb, facing their own hardships and fighting their own battles. So far I only have the prologue done, but chapter one is well under way and I have made some progress on some later stuff.

This addendum is just to give updates on the story, elaborate on some of the themes and ideas used and to explain a few things that are not overly obvious such as choices in mythological roles, planets, consorts etc.

I would also like to use this space for other stuff like shout-outs and stuff so if you aren't interested in anything like that then by all means skip the addendum.

Please divert any questions to my Tumblr, which can be found on my profile.

Here's to a long, convoluted and hopefully not too boring story!

~DaProgram01


End file.
